seems simple enough huh,

well heres my secret, keep the device your recording on at high volume, and it will let you know what is sticking out, then you can turn the source down a bit, i Find by maxing out the monitor, you will get ultimate headroom,

ps you dont really want a puny wave so , you might turn the monitor down a bit, but it lets you know whats going on, and gives you a real comfortable recording. I used to crank the source and turn the monitor down, and its noisy as hell and slowly learned that recording digital loud ( close to 0db) is bad and noisy. well my recordings finally feel comfortable and sound almost half decent when played on speakers and require almost no mastering. So i figure im doing something right.

obviously this works not so well with tape, as a low source will result ina dull recording with lots of hiss.

My favorite recording trick to find out how 'good' the recording will sound (i.e. looking for that pump, the smooth curve, etc.) is to wear cans and turn the volume down a LOT, like below what you'd normally just have your earbuds at and do all my levels with the master volume really low.

This way, I can hear the dynamics from a distance, it's easier to set track volumes and eq n shit when it's really quiet...works for me at least, maybe it helps someone else...

This is a good watch on final mix loudness:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAB_SBioRI4

cool that is interesting; other cool video about it are by bob katz

Interesting! I'll give it a try.

yo hseiken, when doing your low volume trick on cans, you can also mix it with my trick of turning it up loud once in a while. I notice say on the 404, everything will sound good, then when you go to record something will be way off, maybe a snare to loud or bass to loud. I agree to monitor at low for a full comfortable sound, Im not shure the purpose for people to have the (turn up volume) option when its already turned up to the max. on top of that insane loudness youtube goes and adds an amp to their player. which blasts the noise even further. that video shows the loudness war is mostly a scam and it just perceived loudness.back in the day you could turn your amp up almost to half and have a good time listening, same for a record. im sticking with more dynamic audio untill I find a compressor for my signal chain. like in that video the smallest wave is the loudest song. I remember making an album for a guitar player and the waves were small and the song was loud, because I used the 404 as a preamp. and it has a strange super illegal loudness curve.

anyway I just wanted to clarify a bit, on why you gotta turn it up sometimes.
it will help give you an idea of what it would sound like in a very loud situation like club or hall and keep you safe. you can also do this by using a VU on a tapedeck.

turn it down for what